Oil-cloth cutter



urrnn S'rnrns ATENT OFFICE.

JAMES W. LE\VIS, OF GANISTER, PENNSYLVANIA.

OIL-CLOTH CUTTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 503,546, dated August 15, 1893.

Application filed January 11, 1893- Serial No, -5 23- (N mod To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JAMES 1V. LEWIS, of Ganister, in the county of Blair and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and Improved Oil-Oloth Cutter, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to improvements in devices for cutting oilcloth; and the object of my invention is to produce a simple, cheap, and convenient device or apparatus which is especially adapted for the use of dealers who cut the oilcloth from the web, and which is constructed in such a way that the cloth, or other similar material, may be conveniently measured, squared, and cut off.

To this end my invention consists in certain features of construction and combinations of the same, as will be hereinafter described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which similar figures of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 isa plan view of the guide and square forming a part of my invention, show ing also the arrangement of the tape measure. Fig. 2 is an end view of the apparatus with the knife in position in the guide. Fig. 3 is a broken longitudinal section of the guide and a side elevation of the knife in position in the guide. Fig. t isabroken side elevation of a modified form of knife. Fig. 5 is a broken plan view of the knife shown in Fig. 4; and Fig. 6 is abroken side elevation of the end of the guide and square carrying the tape measure.

The guide on which the cloth, or other material to be cut, is laid, is provided with two straight and parallel strips 10 which are slightly separated from each other so as to form a slot 11 in which the cutting knife runs, and the guide strips are, at their ends, firmly secured to the upturned flanges 12 of the base plates 13, which plates are provided with fastening screws let by which they are fastened to a floor, table, or other support 15. The side pieces on their inner edges are grooved longitudinally, as shown at 16, in Fig. 2, the grooves serving to receive the slide plate of the knife, as described presently. The side pieces are strengthened and held in a fined position in relation to each other by cross bars 17 to which they are firmly secured. The grooves 16 are adapted to receive the slide plate 18 which is secured to the lower end of the curved knife 19 and which is perfectly flat and is adapted to slide freely in the grooves. The knife 19 has its concave edge 20 sharpened so as to out the cloth readily, and the knife rises up at right angles to the plate 18 so that while the plate slides longitudinally in grooves 16, the knife slides in the slot 11. The knife is provided with a suitable handle 21 by which it is drawn. At one end of the guide and secured to the strips 10 are abutments 22 which, in connection with the guide, serve as a square, and these abutments are arranged at exactly right angles to the strips 10 so that when the web of the cloth is laid upon the guide with one edge against the abutments and a knife is drawn through the slot 11 and through the cloth, the latter will be cut off square. The inner ends of the abutments 22 are separated above the slot 11 so as to permit the free movement of the knife from end to end of the guide. A tape measure is hung at one end of the guide, the measure being of any ordinary kind and comprising a case 23 and tape 24, and the case is encircled by a double band 25 formed preferably of wire, and the looped end 26 of the band has the free ends of the band wire passed through it, and these ends 27 are pivoted on a staple 28 which is secured to one of the guide strips 10 near one of the abutments 22.

\Vhen the apparatus is to be used, the tape 24: is drawn out so as to measure the cloth 29 to be cut and the cloth, after being marked, is laid upon the guide strips above the slot 11 and with one edge abutting with the abutments 22. The plate 18 of the knife 19 is then inserted in the grooves 16 at the end of the apparatus opposite the abutments, and the knife is then drawn longitudinally through the slot 11, the guide plate serving to hold it down and it severs the cloth cleanly and easily, making at the same time a perfectly square end.

Instead of the knife described, the knife shown in Figs. 4. and 5 may be used. This knife 30 is of a disk shape and it is pivoted in the opposite arms 31 of a shank 32, which shank is provided with a suitable handle 33.

The lower ends 34.- of the arms 31 are projected downward, outward, and forward so as to act as guides, and they are adapted to run snioothly on the oil-cloth 29 While the knife cuts through the cloth and runs through the slot 11. It will be seen that when this form of knife is used, the grooves 16 are unnecessary.

I do not confine myself to the form of gUldQShOWH or to either form of knife, as it is obvious that the slotted guide and a suitableknife to run in the slot form the essential features of the invention, and the other details may be modified if desired.

Having thus described 7 my invention, I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters 7 Patentl An oil cloth cutter, comprising spaced parallel strips, base plates having vertical flanges to which the endsof the said strips are secured and provided With fastening screws for securing them to a support, abutinents secured to the strips at right angles thereto, and a knife fitted to slide between the said strips, substantially as described.

2. In an oil cloth cutter, the combination with a guide, consisting of spaced parallel strips having grooves in their inner edges, of a curved knife having a concave cutting edge and provided with a plate at its lower end sliding in the grooves of the strips, substantially as described.

3. An apparatus of the kind described comprising a guide consisting of parallel separated strips having longitudinal grooves in their inner edges, an abutment on the top of the strips and at an angle thereto, and a knife adapted to slide between the strips and having'a guide plate at its lower end to slide in the grooves, substantially as described.

JAMES XV. LEWIS.

Witnesses:

F. H. Ross, A. S. MORROW. 

